My inspiration for this record of my days:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” -Anna Quindlen

Monday, October 3, 2016

Eli is 5!

Savannah was walking by Eli's door at 5:45 am and she heard him talking to himself. "Today is my birthday! Today is my birthday!"

So began the most anticipated day in Eli's life to this point.

The first wonderful thing of the day was going to preschool. Eli got to choose a treat for the class, and take in a giant poster "All About Me." (Special thanks to the lady at Walmart that gave him a birthday sticker which he chose to wear smack dab in the middle of his forehead.)

After asking approximately 8 million times "How much more minutes until Peter Piper Pizza?" the moment finally arrived! Devin and Nettie joined us for the party. Eli was actually shaking with excitement at one point as he came to get more tokens!

All the siblings pitched in the tickets they earned so Eli could get a really great prize. He had 2,700 tickets to spend! We were trying to point out all of the wonderful options, and the first thing he chose was a little plastic snake!

When the tokens were all gone, we could focus on gifts. Eli genuinely loved every gift he received, squealing with joy each time he opened one.

He got a hunting vest and a nerf gun, camouflage sunglasses, new jeans, Legos handed down from Simon, and a baby book of himself from Jeff and I.

Some things I really love about Eli:
-His enthusiasm for life! He is so animated and excited about pretty much everything!
-His determination. Once he sets his mind to something, he really sticks with it. He has been focused on hunting, for example, for MONTHS now! He never gets discouraged!
-He is responsible. He loves having things that he owns, and he takes good care of his special things.
-His silly use of pronouns. i.e. "Dat is mine toy!" or "Her is mine friend."

I had envisioned a cute cake in the shape of a number 5, but Eli really wanted a dinosaur cake. This was my compromise. A volcano cake with dinosaurs stuck to the sides.

About an hour after tucked him into bed, Eli came out hunting. It was hard to be mad at this cute face!